Determinants of digital skills in Northeast Anatolia, Turkey

Digital divide is among the most important problems required to be overcome by our contemporary information society, where skills are among the principle determinants of such inequalities. This study examines the digital divide in a non-Western population which has not been studied before, and specifically it measures the digital skill levels of the people living in the Northeastern Anatolia region of Turkey. The primary contribution of the study is confirmatory of previous research regarding digital skills, though in the context of a previously-unexamined population. By using a sample representing the region (n = 400), the digital skill levels of the participants were measured. Data were collected through performance tests developed by van Deursen, A.J.A.M., and J.A.G.M. van Dijk (2010. Internet skills and the digital divide. New Media & Society 13, no. 6: 893–911. doi:10.1177/1461444810386774). Findings indicate that the digital skill level of the participants is generally low. The users are most successful at the formal level, followed by operational, informational and strategic skills, respectively. The level of strategic skills is quite low, which hints at the fact that the users studied are not able to translate their Internet use into real-world tangible benefits. It is also found that age, gender, education, household income significantly predict digital skill levels.